Leech
by cazlove
Summary: They've always had a combative relationship, but Keith isn't sure how to respond when Lance's insults gain a certain wickedness that toes the line of cruel.


**AN: Day 2 prompt for Klance Week 2k16: Love/Hate.**

* * *

All things considered, the mission goes fairly well. It's a diplomatic operation, according to Allura, which means that Shiro will have to tiptoe around strange alien politics as the face of Voltron in order to ensure another alliance in the fight against Zarkon. Keith is more than willing to take the backseat for an assignment like this. Honestly, the idea of getting tangled in complex political jargon is more daunting than the thought of facing an entire fleet of Galra ships alone.

Naturally, the aliens are overeager to partner up with Zarkon's most dangerous enemy, and within a day flat (and a single show of the paladins forming Voltron) Shiro has managed to secure a new ally.

The only hitch in the entire trip is that Lance gets lost for roughly three hours.

It's not the end of the world, really, considering his questionable pilot skills and the strange, far-off look he sometimes gets in his eye whenever something reminds him of Earth.

Just this once, Keith kind of gets it.

The alien planet has gorgeous beaches, and none of them have seen anything resembling the ocean in what feels like __too__ long. Although the waters of this planet are a startling shade of purple, the unmistakable sound of waves is a soothing presence, and nobody even thinks of blaming Lance for sequestering himself away to enjoy the reminder of their home world.

Once they're back on the castle-ship, Allura congratulates them on a job well-done. She must be markedly satisfied with their performance, because the next morning she doesn't even bother waking them up early for a false emergency or mandatory practice.

* * *

It starts off small.

They're in the dining hall, a few days after the mission, when Lance challenges Hunk to a food-goo-eating-contest.

Never one to back down from something directly relating to food, Hunk bellows a loud, "You're on!" while Pidge supplies them with an abundance of green goo that jiggles precariously on the plates she carries over to the table.

"You don't stand a chance," Keith says offhandedly, mostly to see Lance sputter indignantly about how he's __the best__ at shoving his face full of food or something of the like.

Instead of insulting his hair or flinging a spoonful of food goo at him, though, Lance just turns his head and __glares__.

It's not the kind of glare he's used to. Lance throws him nasty looks roughly forty times a day, but there's something cold about his hardened eyes now as he looks at Keith, and it makes him feel vaguely uncomfortable.

He must be in a bad mood, or something, Keith thinks as he leans an elbow on the table and props his chin up with his hand to watch the competition.

(Hunk wins, predictably, and Lance doesn't even look at him again.)

* * *

After that, Lance almost kills him on the training deck, and Keith has a distinct feeling that something is __off.__

The paladins have been doing group trainings for the past few weeks - Shiro insists that team synergy on the battlefield is just as important as synergy off of it, and they've had drills in rotation groups with varying results.

Hunk is probably his favorite to spar with. His bayard can skillfully mow down multiple targets, which complements Keith's fighting style well as he focuses his attention on the more dangerous threats. (They're an appropriate combination, considering how Zarkon will send out legions of soldiers along with more skilled commanders.)

Pidge is probably his weakest ally, although that's no real secret. A full offensive strategy with two melee weapons is __not__ ideal for most combat situations, and although they've improved significantly on protecting one another during the simulations, Keith struggles to think of conditions under which they would be an ideal fighting pair.

When Lance and Keith are paired up, it's always hit or miss. In actual combat, Lance has proven himself to be a worthy ally, but whenever they're running a sim he fumbles, and Keith spends too much time overcompensating for Lance's shortcomings to truly go on the offensive he's so used to.

It's frustrating, and as such, Keith doesn't look forward to the times they're scheduled to fight together. He's not about to go against Shiro's instructions, or anything, but nor is he about to __enjoy__ the next hour spent with Lance's bullshit.

The simulation starts off easily enough, just a single training bot with a polearm, and Keith wastes no time in kicking off the ground to knock the bot to the ground with a steady sweep of his bayard. Once it's grounded, Lance finishes it off with a clean shot to the head, and things seem to be going well for this session, at least.

"Ready for something more advanced?" Keith asks, swiping a forearm across his brow. Level One always serves as a good warmup, but it's really not much of a challenge.

Lance hoists his weapon up and rolls his eyes. "Not sure why you even bothered with something so weak."

They __always__ start out with a Level One bot, if only to get blood pumping in preparation of more difficult trials, but Keith isn't going to argue it today.

"Start training Level Four," he says, raising his voice loud enough for the tech system to pick up on the command, and then three training bots spawn, ready for battle.

He's quick to lunge for the one in the middle, taking stock of their differentiated weapons - the one on the left has a pistol, the middle has a sword, and the right a lance - and relying on his partner to take care of the ones he can't.

In all of their planned attack courses, Lance, as the sharpshooter, is meant to disable threats with long-range weapons so that Keith can dart in and focus on fighters better-suited to his combat style.

It's a good strategy, if a basic one, and when he charges into the fight, he expects his fellow paladin to, well, defend him.

Instead, Keith finds himself in the middle of the three bots, and they all pivot to focus on the closest threat: him.

Fortunately, he spends enough time on the deck alone to disable one off the bat with a quick uppercut, but then he's caught between the sword-wielder and a dangerously close spear. He risks a quick glance toward Lance, and sees him aiming and carefully lining up a shot.

The only problem is that Lance is aimed at __him,__ not one of the training bots, and just as his finger presses against the trigger Keith jerks an arm up to deflect the shot with his shield.

"End training sequence!" he barks, and the bots fall away harmlessly. "What the __fuck__ was that, Lance?"

"You barely evaded that shot, how do you think you'll ever protect the universe when you're this __weak?__ "

The words come from Lance's mouth, and they're spoken in his voice, but they don't sound like __him.__ They're too cool, almost malicious, and Keith has never heard anything like it from the usually cocky paladin.

"Maybe if my teammate __helped__ me instead of __shooting__ at me, I'd have an easier time," he grits out, but Lance is deactivating his bayard and looking bored with the conversation, so Keith spins on his heel and storms out of the training deck before he actually does something stupid, like punch the bastard.

The barb digs deeper than he'd care to admit, though.

* * *

What little camaraderie Lance and Keith had built up working together for Voltron deteriorates quickly. Keith honestly has no idea if Lance has always hated him this vehemently, or if it's a new development, but either way, the paladin's new act of callousness and cruelty has Keith feeling equal parts hurt and frustrated.

It's not like he's never had insults tossed at him before. Even before he'd been kicked out of the Garrison, kids had mocked him for never understanding their jokes, for spending so much time in the flight sims instead of hanging out with other cadets.

The insults are nothing new.

So why does it hurt so much when it's __Lance?__

Their relationship has always been saturated by sarcastic remarks and jokes, although lately, they've been caustic and downright __mean,__ and Keith isn't enjoying this dynamic shift at all.

Keith can't even find it in him to goad Lance into reacting, anymore, because Lance's responses have only gotten more acidic, and, honestly, he doesn't have the fucking patience to sit around being verbally abused while everyone else shoots him pitying glances.

He knows the other paladins have talked to Lance about how he's been acting, but they're not the ones who face the brunt of his asshole remarks. Around them, Lance seems as chipper as ever, and it's immensely irritating. Keith knows his friends are familiar with his short temper, but he can't seem to keep his cool for very long anymore, and __that__ just fills him with even more anger.

Even Shiro's sent him a few concerned looks when Lance's jabs get a little too cruel, and Keith considers avoiding them all as often as possible, because all it gets him is this - this hurt, betrayed feeling that digs down deep in his chest and refuses to dissipate.

He spends a significant amount of time on the training deck, now, physically forcing the rage out of his system, and he's just finished up with a rigorous workout when he walks into the recreation area of the castle.

Pidge is sprawled out over one of the couches, explaining some story about her and her brother completely reprogramming one of their father's research bots before getting in significant trouble for the complete technical overhaul.

Lance grins as Pidge talks, and he looks more animated and involved in the conversation than Keith's seen him act in what feels like forever.

Maybe he's in a better mood, finally?

"- you would __love__ my sister, Pidge, she always gets into trouble and pulls this __face__ like she's the most perfect angel - "

"Something like… __this?__ " Pidge asks, and she does something fluttery with her eyelashes, which causes Lance to laugh out loud.

"Oh, man," Hunk says through a chuckle, just as Lance says, "How did I __ever__ think you were a guy - "

"It's probably the whole 'unobservant as hell' thing," Keith quips, leaning over the back of the couch.

Pidge snorts, and Keith shoots her a smile. The tension she carried in her shoulders before revealing her secret is long-gone, and he's genuinely proud of her for coming out to them on her own terms.

As if seeing Keith in a fairly good mood is an immoral sin, Lance makes an aggravated noise in his throat and shoots him one of __those__ glares. "Look, Keith. Stop trying to get so close to us just because you have no family of your own."

The room falls completely silent for a moment just before it erupts in noise, and that's the moment Keith realizes that, no, he isn't crazy, he hasn't been imagining Lance's antagonism.

Judging by Pidge's furious expression and Hunk's wildly waving hands, they're trying to do immediate damage control, but Keith doesn't hear any of it.

There's a dull pounding in his head that drowns out the clamoring of the other paladins, and he risks a quick glance toward Lance - surely he's realized that what he said was __cruel__?

But Lance is just staring flatly at him, and Keith's stomach sinks. Whatever's going on in his mind, he clearly felt justified about the comment, and it stings more than it should to have the truth shoved in his face so clearly.

Of course he doesn't have a goddamn family. Of course the paladins are his only friends in the entire __universe,__ but they're supposed to be a team, and who the fuck says something like that unless they're trying to be deliberately hurtful?

His face burns with something akin to shame, and even though some part of him identifies that Hunk and Pidge have realized that Lance has gone too far, it's not enough. He can't bear to be around Lance if __this__ is how he acts.

* * *

The worst part of it all is that, now, Keith actually misses being alone in the middle of the desert.

The latent energy of Blue had become a constant presence in his otherwise isolated existence, and things have been so __shit__ lately that he craves that quiet hum of power alongside the dry heat.

At least he didn't have to deal with confusing human interaction back then. He'd thought Lance and him were - friends, or comrades, or at least anything __but__ enemies jumping at one another's throats. Even their constant banter had been comfortable, never crossing over into territory that could be construed as genuinely mean.

But now, he guilts Keith into feeling inadequate in battle. He targets him with his weaknesses, and Keith has no idea why. What changed? What could have brought this on?

Hunk's terrible at hiding his emotions as he frowns whenever he sees Keith stalking through the halls, and Pidge is constantly on edge, anger simmering just below the surface.

At least her animosity isn't directed at him, but she still doesn't manage to rein in her emotions enough to handle any casual attempt at conversation with him.

More than anything, it's infuriating that Lance has apparently single-handedly alienated the other paladins from him.

And Keith has no idea what to __do.__ People aren't his specialty; they're Lance's.

* * *

When the alarm goes off to indicate that Galra forces are launching an attack on a planet in a nearby solar system, they suit up and prepare for battle.

It's a tough fight, with one of Zarkon's top commanders leading the charge, and even through Shiro's leadership they barely manage to hold their own.

In the end, they can't form Voltron, and the Galra destroy another planet through quintessence harvesting.

Keith __knows__ that it isn't his fault, knows that they did their best, but still he can't close his eyes without thinking about all of the lives lost. Lance's words echo in his head: __How do you think you'll ever protect the universe when you're this weak?__

* * *

He can tell the situation is dire by how uncharacteristically serious Coran is.

They've been called to the control room of the castle-ship, although Allura had assured them over comms it wasn't an absolute emergency. It's why Keith takes his time making his way to the front of the ship; if he got the message, then so did the other paladins, and he's in no hurry to butt heads with Lance today.

When he does walk in, Keith can't help his arm's instinctive jolt toward the bayard at his hip. Beside the training deck debacle, he hasn't been physically aggressive, but his taunts have escalated and there's no telling what will happen once they're in a room together.

To Keith's utter and complete surprise, though, the moment all of them are present in the control room, Coran whips out a device that looks somewhat like a technologically-enhanced taser, and immediately uses it on Lance.

Who falls to the ground, shocked unconscious, and as soon as his body lands, outraged shouts fill the room.

"What the __hell__ \- "

"Coran!?"

"What did you __do?"__

"Calm down!" Allura yells, her voice echoing loudly. "We haven't harmed him."

"Knocking him unconscious isn't __harming?__ " Pidge asks, and her voice is shrill.

"He's infected," Coran says, and the words are enough to halt all complaints.

"Infected with what?" Shiro asks after a moment, though he doesn't sound quite as surprised as Keith thinks he ought to.

"A nasty little parasite that we think he caught when we were on Rala," Allura responds. Keith remembers the planet's name as the one with the purple beaches.

A parasite? Lance has been infected by a __parasite__?

"Scrays are aliens that feed off of intense emotions," Coran explains. "When a host is infected, the parasite can pick out a target and alter brain waves in order to amplify the emotions and ensure it gets fed. Quite gruesome."

"We're sorry it took so long to identify," Allura says, shooting a significant look toward Keith, and at least she sounds genuine.

"And you think the parasite in Lance targeted Keith?" Pidge asks.

 _ _Because he hates him,__ is left unsaid, although Keith hears it loud and clear.

It all falls into place: why Lance's behaviors have escalated lately, why he hasn't bothered to hide his disdain for Keith. He's obviously never felt anything positive toward him, and the parasitic alien __thing__ inside of him amplifies those emotions and antagonizes its prey whenever it needs a quick meal.

Keith feels sick.

Allura's still looking at him, the apology clear in her eyes, and he swallows roughly. "As long as you can safely remove it," he says, voice sounding distant even to his own ears.

"Oh, that's no problem," Coran says, and a bit of the cheer Keith is used to slides back into his tone. "Scrays can't handle electromagnetic waves at all, so Lance just needs to be run through a basic scanner and __zap,__ the alien will dissolve harmlessly!"

"All he needs is an MRI?" Hunk asks, looking a bit __too__ interested in the science of it all as he looms over Lance's unconscious form.

Shiro's already moving toward Lance, likely to pick him up and bring him wherever he needs to be.

The other paladins clearly have it covered, and Keith beats a hasty retreat while they're distracted.

* * *

Keith is definitely __not__ avoiding Lance. He just sees no reason to talk to the teen when it's so obvious that they despise one another.

"Hey," Shiro says, catching him by the arm to stop him from running away. He's taken to stalking about the hallways of the castle as quickly as possible, mostly to evade situations exactly like this one. "Are you avoiding Lance?"

"No," Keith responds, refusing to meet Shiro's gaze. "Of course not."

"He feels awful about all of this," Shiro says, like he's some kind of mediator and it's his responsibility to force the two of them to reconcile. Keith supposes it kind of is, as the leader of Voltron, and all.

 _ _Then why hasn't he tried very hard to seek me out?__ Keith wants to say, but instead he just nods. There's no point in unleashing his pent-up emotions on __Shiro,__ who has done nothing wrong. "He can come to my room whenever," he mutters, and Shiro seems pleased.

"I'll let him know. See you at dinner."

It's been three days since Coran space-tasered Lance, and although he's actively avoiding the guy, he didn't entirely expect Lance to also be avoiding __him.__

Keith retreats back to his room and unsheathes his dagger, digging under his fingernails for nonexistent dirt as he waits for Lance's inevitable arrival.

If Shiro's orchestrating some kind of meeting between them, there's really nothing else he can do.

Sure enough, not even an hour passes before there's a hesitant knock on his door. It's not locked, and Lance peeks his head in after Keith remains silent. "Hey, can we talk?"

His voice is uncharacteristically soft. Either that, or Keith hasn't heard Lance talk to him without any hint of antagonism in his tone for too long.

Keith offers him a shrug, keeping his dagger held stiffly in one hand.

Lance shuffles in, standing about awkwardly, and the tension in the air is thick.

"The worst part of this - __thing__ \- " Lance finally starts, waving his hands around his body aimlessly, "was that I could see everything that was happening, I just couldn't control myself at all."

Keith has no idea where he's going with this, and he doesn't quite trust his voice not to crack pathetically if he __does__ open his mouth, so he just narrows his eyes at Lance in a silent command to continue.

"So I could see exactly how much my words - well, not __my__ words, but you get the idea - were hurting you, and I was just stuck feeling all these awful emotions and not knowing why I couldn't just shut the hell up."

"Get to the point," he bites out, because being this close to Lance while knowing that he __hates__ him is, quite possibly, the worst experience of his life. It's worse than thinking Shiro was dead, worse than getting kicked out of the Garrison, worse than thinking that Lance was his __best friend__ at one point in time.

Maybe the parasite isn't quite gone, yet, and this is just another attempt to hurt him.

"I don't hate you, okay? I never have."

"You don't have to lie for the sake of Voltron, or whatever," Keith says gruffly. "Coran already told us all the parasite fed off potent emotional responses. If you didn't hate me as much as you do, it would've targeted someone else." Keith's spent a lot of time considering that, actually. It doesn't take a genius to see that Lance fights most frequently with Keith, and maybe it's all for the best. The thought of Lance treating someone like Hunk or Pidge the way he treated Keith for the past few weeks makes him feel a sickening cocktail of rage and disgust. It's what gets him through it all, really. He's proud to take the brunt of such hatred if it means saving them.

Lance mumbles something, then, and it's mostly illegible but Keith also can't believe what he may have heard.

 _"_ _ _What?"__

"It didn't choose my feelings for you as a food source because I __hate__ you, alright."

It's a dangerous inquiry, but Keith can't help himself, not after hearing something like that. "Then why would it target me?"

"Are you really going to make me say it?" Lance asks, and there's a thread of something pleading in his words that makes Keith jerk his head up and lock eyes with the other teen.

Lance's face is flushed, and as soon as their eyes meet he averts his gaze.

"Say what?"

Lance inhales sharply. "Look, Coran told me that the dumb parasite warps emotions and it took how I felt for you and turned it into this - bastardized version, made me act like I hated you even though I __don't,__ but I know you've been avoiding me and I totally get it, I'd avoid me, too for all the shit I said - "

Keith tunes out Lance's rambling in order to hone in on the most significant bits of information. Lance doesn't hate him, has apparently never felt that way, and what's all this about __bastardizing__ how he felt?

"Wait, you - " he starts, but the words freeze in his throat as Lance's mouth snaps shut and he stares down at where Keith is sitting up in bed.

The look in Lance's eyes is a mixture of determination and nervousness, and whatever Keith was going to say dissolves into thin air at that __look.__

 _ _Oh.__

Everything clicks as Lance bears down on him, although Keith can hardly believe it. The reason that Lance's cruelty managed to hit him with pinpoint accuracy is because he has fucking __feelings__ for him, somehow. (Keith distantly remembers someone saying to him, once, __The ones you love the most also have the power to cause the greatest wounds,__ and who knew that it'd be the most accurate thing he'd ever hear?)

He __likes__ Lance, and the aggression, the anger, the __hurt__ all melt away the moment that Lance kisses him.

It's a chaste kiss, and Keith can barely feel the press of Lance's chapped lips before he's pulling away, but then Lance climbs onto the bed alongside him.

"I __really__ don't hate you," he says softly, and this close Keith can feel the puff of warm air against the curve of his neck.

What a terrible fucking breed of parasites, Keith thinks. He's going to find a way to magnetize Red and wipe out the fucking alien race from existence, because those parasitic bastards made his life an absolute __hell__.

(Maybe he'll yell a thank you at them before he vaporizes them all, though, because Lance is __in his bed.__ And __kissed him.__ )

The past few weeks seem surreal. Keith turns to face Lance, partially just to ensure that the teen is actually __there,__ and then his attention is caught by the flush spreading across tanned cheeks, and suddenly, a single kiss doesn't seem like nearly enough of an apology for the shit he's gone through.

Keith surges forward to kiss him in earnest. What he lacks in experience he makes up for in eagerness, and despite the fact that their noses bump against one another uncomfortably, Lance quickly responds, slotting their mouths together in a more proper kiss.

It's wet as their tongues slide against one another, and the sensation is unfamiliar although not unpleasant in the slightest, but then Lance is pulling away and Keith absolutely does __not__ let out a disappointed noise as they part.

"I want you to understand this completely first," Lance says sheepishly, and Keith honestly has no idea what he's talking about because his mind is still stuck on kissing him.

Lance slips his hand within Keith's gloved one, tugging him off the bed, and then they're venturing through the hallways and into one of the training rooms.

"It's easier to show you," Lance says, gesturing toward the center of the room where the mind melding circlets are located.

Lance wastes no time in opening his thoughts entirely to Keith once they've slipped the headpieces on.

It's sort of daunting, to be presented with the entirety of someone else's mind, and Keith feels nauseous as they flit through memories. Watching himself through Lance's eyes and feeling so __viscerally__ how the parasite warped Lance's emotions and words is not a fun experience, and he finally withdraws from the paladin's mind with a low gasp.

"That's enough," he says shakily, lifting the circlet off his head and placing it back on its holder. "I get it."

And __now__ Lance looks hesitant, in a way he didn't when he was climbing onto Keith's fucking bed and kissing him, so Keith moves toward him. Lance just trusted him massively with this, and the least he can do is reciprocate.

"If you ever do anything like that again," Keith says, threading a hand in Lance's hair and pushing their foreheads together, "I'm going to fucking kill you."

"Aw," Lance says, as though Keith's very legitimate threat means nothing to him. "You say the sweetest things."

Keith shoves him hard enough that he falls over.


End file.
